Silver and Gold
by fenniefox
Summary: Kin is an alien half breed struggling to find where she fits in. Fortunately for her, all that changes when the Paladins of Voltron visit her planet. Kin quickly discovers that she and Shiro are both missing something: his arm and her voice. Upon this discovery, the two become friends and for the first time Shiro finds someone he can confide in about his trauma. ShiroXOC [Hiatus]
1. Chapter 1

[ **Writers Note** : First chapter takes place during season 2 episode 4 "Greening the Cube"] On another note the rating is subject to change in later chapters so be aware. This work can also be found on 'archiveofourown' under the same title and author name. I do not own Voltron: Legendary Defender.

* * *

 **Silver and Gold: Chapter 1**

 **"Greening the Cube"**

When the Paladins first came to the Olkari's world, Kin stayed back hidden among the trees. The remaining Olkari rebels stood out in the clearing where the presumed invaders were meant to land. Kin wasn't allowed to be amongst them however. She was a half-breed; half Olkari and half Altean. While the Olkari people did not hold any animosity towards the Alteans, it was because of that fact that her immature peers would shun her out of fear of the Galra Empire. The Olkari knew of how the Alteans were wiped out of existence long ago, so some would even say she was a curse or a bad omen doomed to bring them the same fate because they sheltered her. In the past, Kin used to be bothered by this, but over time she had learned to ignore it. She never really had anywhere else to go. Kin didn't have much of a choice even if she wanted to leave, because of the risk of being found by the Galra. But now as the ships came into view, Kin gasped. They were not at all what she was expecting. The colored ships landed on the surface and Kin could feel the silence as the breaths of all the Olkari were momentarily taken away by the lions' presence.

The moment of awe was finally broken when a strong and warm voice radiated from a speaker assuring them, "We come in peace!"

Kin watched as the elder Olkari walked forward towards the lions. She began to realize that these might be the lions from the rumors she had heard of Voltron; the legendary protector of the universe. Then a small figure in green appeared atop the head of the green lion and shouted, "We found your distress signal!"

In a united moment realization, all that could be heard in response was the Olkari people cheering and eagerly gathering to greet the paladins of Voltron. Kin on the other hand decided to stay hidden behind the trees and continue to watch from afar. While she was glad for their presence she did not feel worthy enough to meet them in person herself. She watched as each of the paladins exited their lions and greeted the elder. That's when she noticed one of the paladins had a robotic arm. Kin instinctively touched her own neck at the sight of the paladin's arm. "He's… just like me…" she thought to herself. Kin had been mute from birth until her Olkari father created the neck brace she wore that allowed her to speak. She traced her fingers along the edges of the metallic ring around her neck while looking at the paladin's arm. In that instant she felt like she understood the stranger, at least a little bit. While Kin loved the neck brace her father made for her, at the same time, she felt ashamed for needing a device to speak in the first place. She often blamed herself for being born mute. Though she didn't recognize it at the time, some of the things others said to make fun of her still affected her even though she had become accustomed to the treatment. She was now even more curious about the visitors and decided to follow the paladin's through the forest while staying just out of their sight.

Kin thought the green paladin was cute. She watched as the green one gawked at their technology but supposed that she couldn't blame them since she didn't have much to compare it to herself. While the other paladins were enjoying the tour though, Kin noticed that the black paladin consistently remained focused at all times. He had gone straight to asking the important questions related to the mission at hand. She admired that. She knew few who possessed similar qualities, but at the same time, she wondered why his body language conveyed that he was also being very guarded at all times. She had studied body language and had a talent for it and the black paladin's guarded nature was very clear to her out of all the other paladins who remained laid back for the most part. She continued following the paladins while staying hidden as the elder showed them where they create their weapons. A few of the Olkari demonstrated their abilities. One of them touched one of the flowers growing nearby and in an instant the flower glowed enveloping their arm having been turned into a blaster. The elder then showcased her own ability placing her hand on the nearby tree. Light shot up the bark of the tree following the natural grooves between the bark up to the branches. There was a loud snap and a giant seed instantly turned into a one-person war machine as it crash landed to the earth in front of the group. Then the paladins were each handed an interface headband and she watched in amusement as they struggled to create their own weapons. All except for the green paladin which had figured out how to do so with ease. After that though, the paladins along with the elder had boarded their machines and speedily set off. That was the last Kin would see of them for a while.

* * *

It was later that afternoon when explosions were heard echoing through the forest coming from the occupied city. The Voltron paladins had brought back their king but only so all the Olkari to find out of his betrayal. The black paladin began to speak, "While your countrymen starved, King Lubos was well taken care of by the Galra. He willingly helped them build that cube, willingly helped to enslave his own people." Gasps could be heard from the surrounding crowd. But as the paladin spoke of the misdeeds, the message soon became hopeful. He continued, "I know you're devastated, but it's time to be strong and use your Olkari spirit to fight alongside Voltron and take back your planet!" His finishing statement echoed through the forest. Kin watched from the trees as she listened to the strength in the black paladin's voice ushering the Olkari to fight alongside them despite their king's treachery. Then with the word of the elder to back him, the black paladin's call to fight was answered in full by the cheers of the Olkari people. Kin thought to herself in that moment that she wished she could have cheered alongside them if not for her robotic sounding voice. His words inspired her and she didn't want to chance the possibility of drawing any unwanted attention away from his words with her awkward sounding voice, even a little. She held her tongue and clenched her fist to her heart.

The paladin's then set off and the Olkari people began to rally the troops towards the city. Even though Kin was not fond of fighting and had never been good at it she was moved by the Paladin's words and rushed down along with the others to arm herself for battle. Before she could do so however, the elder Olkari took notice of her and went to stop her immediately.

"Kin I've told you, you cannot fight in these battles" the elder began to say before she was interrupted by Kin.

"Please elder; I know I haven't been allowed to fight but just this once…"

"No" the elder retorted sternly before settling for a calmer tone. "Kin, I know you want to fight. We all do… but you… you are not like the rest of us. I've raised you as my own since I found you in the cryopod deep in the forest and… if it were just because of that I'd let you go anyway but… you may very well be the last Altean in existence."

"Half Altean…" Kin muttered with some acid in her tone.

Even though the Olkari people were knowledgeable, there was only so much information that could reach them in a galaxy mostly occupied by the Galra. As far as the Olkari knew the Alteans had been wiped out of existence and remained otherwise silent for 10,000 years. Even though stories of Voltron had made itself known through the cracks of filtered information, to them, it was still unlikely that any Alteans were involved. With that in mind, the elder continued despite Kin's retort "Even though I didn't know your parents I made a promise that their sacrifice wouldn't be in vain. So please Kin… you may watch but please do not participate in this fight. You're too important to lose in times like this." Even though Kin didn't agree, she took pity on the woman that had done so much for her and nodded anyways. As the rest of the Olkari set off for battle Kin went to the edge of the forest and created stairs for herself up to the highest part of the tree. As explosions took over the sunset landscape the most eye catching feature was Voltron forming in front of her eyes and confronting the cube weapon as it mirrored its opponent.

* * *

As the smoke began to clear at the end of the battle Kin quickly made her way towards the center of the city when she heard the cheers. The green lion had won the day along with the Olkari and she could see the lions beginning to land to speak with the elder. The air whipped through her hair as she pushed through the crowd to get to the city center. Just then she heard the elder begin to thank the paladins for all they had done for them. She was running out of time. It was then she made a decision, and she had to make it quick. As the paladins said their goodbyes and began walking back towards their lions a slightly robotic girl's voice could be heard shouting "Wait!" from the crowd. Recognizing that the black paladin was their leader, she made her way towards him until at the last moment she tripped in her desperation to reach them in time and grabbed the closest thing out of instinct. However what she ended up grabbing was the robotic hand of the black paladin before she plummeted to the ground.

The black paladin withheld a flinch from the touch becoming stiff for a moment. He wasn't used to people willingly going to shake his robotic hand let alone someone full heartedly grabbing onto it to stop their fall. But quickly he turned his attention to the girl struggling to stand back on her feet.

"Whoa there, are you okay?" the black paladin asked concerned.

The girl tried to catch her breath, and realizing this, the paladin helped her to stand before waiting for her reply.

"Ah- I- I'm sorry for- well I didn't mean to trip but- I… I want to go with you Paladin. Please let me travel with your team. I can create things just like the other Olkari can, I can be useful in your missions" she stuttered frantically.

The other paladins began walking over to make sure everything was okay as they overheard her say that. At the same time the elder Olkari was just getting over the shock of the situation. For once the black paladin was at a loss for what to say. But before he could even attempt a response the elder Olkari had already cut him off.

"Kin what are you doing? What do you mean you want to travel with them?"

"Please elder…" Kin replied "this is something… I have to do…"

"No it is not. You are the last Altean, the last remnants of your kind-"

"Actually," the blue paladin interjected suddenly "She's not the last Altean; we have two Alteans on our ship right now."

"That's right" the green paladin added "Princess Allura and Coran are both Alteans and I'm sure they would be happy at the discovery of another member!"

"Hold up guys," the yellow paladin intervened as he went up to observe Kin closer "She looks a little different from Allura and Coran though."

"Huh, you're right Hunk" the blue paladin acknowledged as he walked over to observe Kin as well.

"I'm actually half Altean" Kin explained with a smile.

Both the blue and yellow paladin were now even more interested at this new piece of intel. The green paladin leaned in and quizzically adjusted her glasses, "Interesting. Well she does have the ears of an Altean."

The group was getting a little too close for Kin's comfort.

"Knock it off guys" The black paladin finally warned.

As this conversation went on, the elder Olkari was soon realizing that with others out there like Kin, it might be best for her to go with them after all. The elder sighed.

"Kin… If you really think you must go then… I won't stop you this time. Voltron has already proved its trust to me and all Olkari. If the Paladins say you can go, then you should go with them."

Kin's eyes widened in surprise at first but her expression slowly turned into one of joy at the realization. She ran toward the elder to give her a hug.

"Thank you. This really does mean a lot to me. Thank you so much…"

Once she broke from the elder's embrace, Kin turned toward the black paladin looking for permission to join them. He could see the desperation and passion in her eyes. There was a moment of pause as it seemed the paladin was listening to a device in his helmet. But then the black paladin turned back to smile at her.

"Well if you're going to be traveling with us then we should get to know each other. I'm Shiro, over there is Keith, and this is Lance, Pidge, and Hunk. Allura and Coran are on the ship but we can introduce you once you're on board."

The girl smiled warmly back at the group, her heart feeling light.

"I'm Kin, nice to meet you all."

* * *

 **Authors Note** : Hey there! This is my first fanfic so if you have time I would appreciate any feedback. I decided to dedicate the first chapter to my OC Kin so that you guys could get a better feel for who she is before we get into more interactions in later chapters. Also I'm trying to follow the storyline of the actual show with each chapter focusing on one episode. Only difference is my own twist and the addition of my OC's perspective. Thanks for reading!


	2. Chapter 2

**Note:** This chapter is quite a bit longer than the last one but you'll finally get to see what Kin's like interacting with the other paladin's so I hope it was worth the wait!

* * *

 **Chapter 2**

 **"Eye of the Storm"**

After getting back to the main ship, Kin had been introduced to Allura and Coran with open arms. Allura even seemed to have tears in her eyes as she brought the woman into her embrace. Kin melted at how warm the greeting was. She felt like she knew what this feeling was, but the softness felt hazy after years of it not being used often. Meanwhile everyone else seemed enthusiastic and surprised to meet her, and their friendliness was contagious.

As the initial excitement of Kin's arrival died down, the group naturally huddled around as pidge talked about what she had learned and discovered about her lion. Kin smiled as Pidge described the Olkari teachings as the foundation for her new bond. However the conversation quickly turned into a bout of silliness. Kin reminisced to herself and wondered if this was what it was actually like to be part of a family. But her thoughts were shattered in an instant by the sound of an alarm.

Even though everyone was caught off guard, Kin seemed to be the only one not prepared for it. Shiro instinctually ordered everyone to their stations. The only problem was that Kin didn't have a station yet. As everyone else scrambled to get where they belonged, Kin stood there unsure of what to do or how to help.

Shiro soon realized her predicament and quickly ordered "Kin, go help Coran with the controls" then addressed everyone adding "We gotta put some distance between us and Zarkan; this could be the fight of our lives."

As Kin stumbled to help Coran with the controls, she was in rough shape. This was not how she expected her journey to start out. The ship had been found by Zarkon just barely after her arrival, and at the same time, she suddenly had to adjust to Altean technology rather than the Olkari technology she was accustomed to. After fumbling with the monitors for a few seconds she realized it wasn't going to work, she needed more time to understand Altean technology better. Panic crept up her spine as she desperately looked for a way to be more useful. Then she saw that Shiro, Keith, and Lance were using robots to return fire outside the ship.

"Coran, you take over; I'm going to get some supplies!"

"Supplies?" Coran shouted back "Supplies for what?!"

Already too far to hear, she sprinted down the hallway of the castle looking for any available materials she could use her Olkari powers on. In the back of her mind, she reminded herself not to stray too far away so that she could still find her way back to the control room of the castle. It was easy to get lost in such a big place and now wasn't the time for that. Using a few electronics and chairs she found along the way she muttered to herself "I guess this will have to do…" She placed her hands to the equipment and with a warping flash of green light she created a makeshift robot and shooting system to help cover the others outside. The robot looked just like the ones Shiro, Keith, and Lance were using outside despite a few minor alterations. Then using an airlock she previously came across down the hall, she launched her main shooter robot out into space without much difficulty. In the time that took she was already back at the control room with the rest of her equipment. Main robot now outside, she turned on her control panel for the device and swiftly maneuvered the bot to join the others in returning fire with the Galra.

"Good idea Kin!" Shiro praised with some relief in his voice "Stick together now!" he ordered before going back to concentrating on shooting.

The minutes that followed felt like hours to each one of them. After what seemed like a decade of keeping the Galra at bay, the team followed through on their last ditch effort plan. Using the nearest moon's gravity, they warped away escaping at last. Kin felt herself and everyone else sigh in relief as if they had all been holding their breaths the whole time.

After that anxiety inducing ordeal, they soon found out that Coran had a case of "the slipperies" as Allura had explained. It was already lightening the tense mood of the room as Coran struggled to stay upright while in denial about the condition. Kin was particularly intrigued since she knew almost nothing about the Altean part of her heritage. She had been fairly young when the Olkari had found and raised her as their own. She watched in amusement as Coran slid down to check on the turbine leaving a trail of slime. She knew it would be rude to laugh, but Coran just looked so silly sliding full speed down the hall that she tried to contain it while wondering what other weird traits her Altean side might have.

However Shiro didn't waste a second. He quickly took the moment of peace to figure out what their next move would be. Kin was taken a bit off guard by his forwardness at first. She could tell everyone else was also slightly disgruntled by the sudden change of topics. However, she instantly took notice of how the others still listened attentively despite themselves. She understood then the amount of respect the team had for Shiro as a leader. Even from what little she knew about him, she could tell he always seemed to be on top of things. He almost seemed to pull plans out of thin air and kept such a calm disposition doing so. Someone less qualified would easily falter under the same pressure. As she thought about this to herself, Shiro tried quickly debriefing everyone until he noticed the exhaustion looming over his fellow teammates. With slight reluctance on his part, Shiro called for them to take a break instead. He didn't even need to finish his statement before most were already sighing in relief or off to go relax. Even though Kin hadn't been at it for as long as the rest of the team had, she still felt just as exhausted after narrowly escaping Zarkan. Not even one day and it felt like she had just been thrust into the fray of things. But then again, she never expected joining Voltron was going to be easy either.

As members of the team left to do one thing or another, only Shiro and Kin were left standing in the control room. Noticing Kin was still there with him, Shiro said "Hey I'm just going to be checking the system here, if you wanted to do something else you're free to go."

Kin took this into consideration but found that she didn't want to leave. The man before her now was the very man that inspired her to reach out and ask to join Voltron in the first place. From the moment she first saw him and realized he had no arm just like she had no voice, she desperately wanted to find out what kind of person lied behind that exterior. She wanted to know him for his heart and not by how he looks. She wanted to at least do him that courtesy despite others neglecting to do the same for her. There was so much she wanted to convey but she settled for asking him a simple question instead.

"Don't you want to relax too?"

The paladin paused a moment before he chuckled a response.

"To me, this is relaxing."

Kin smiled at his remark but stayed where she was. She didn't want to leave, but at the same time, she was afraid that if she didn't do something soon it would quickly become awkward. Then she remembered that she still didn't know the layout of the castle very well and that it would be a good excuse to ask him for help finding her way. But as soon as this thought occurred to her, her confidence dissipated the moment she noticed Shiro had already started checking the monitor again. Kin looked down at the ground and twirled her long hair nervously. She finally decided to make her way over to the paladin and sat down on the floor beside him quietly. Even thought she was initially anxious, for some reason she found the air around the paladin to be comforting to her. She soon found herself sitting in comfortable silence next to him, listening to his soft taps against the screen.

After a few minutes of this going on, without turning his head, Shiro glanced between the monitor and the woman sitting next to him. It wasn't like she was trying to distract him on purpose, but his own puzzlement over her staying with him resulted in the same end anyways. He watched her twirl her emerald green hair before taking notice of the metallic ring around her neck. He knew the device allowed her to speak because of the slight robot lilt to her voice and the fact that the sound came directly from the neck brace itself. His gaze shifted from the metallic ring around her neck to his own robotic hand and he felt a pang in his heart but couldn't really place what the feeling was. He guessed he was feeling empathy for her. He closed his robotic hand into a fist reminding him of the strange numb points it could not feel.

The girl suddenly looked up at him and Shiro quickly made sure it looked as if he was only paying attention to the monitor the whole time.

"We're kind of alike" the woman's robotic voice began out of the blue.

"How so?" Shiro asked, even though he guessed she was referring their artificial enhancements.

"We're both alone."

"What do you mean?" he then asked cautiously.

"Well" she started, "because I was a mix of Altean and Olkari, there was some who shunned me for being a half breed. Needing to use a device in order to speak doesn't really help me fit in with others well either. However, I feel like the way you are alone is different than how I am alone."

The paladin didn't respond. He wasn't sure how to. He always focused on the task at hand or the next plan, anything to distract him from his own feelings or the past. Sometimes it was better that way though. There were a lot of things he'd experienced that he'd rather forget anyways. He was snapped out of his thoughts when Kin spoke again.

"I'm sorry; it's not my place to make assumptions like that."

"Oh- No, you're alright" he tried to assure her, "I guess I'm just not used to this."

"Used to what?"

Shiro paused nervously.

"I'm not used to being talked to this way."

"You mean the way I speak?" she asked placing a hand on her neck brace "Is the way I talk weird?"

"NO-No not that. I didn't mean it like that. Your voice is fine. I just meant that others don't usually talk to me… this…" He struggled to find the word. "Intimately?" A light blush formed on Kin's cheeks in surprise. Shiro realized his miscommunication and immediately corrected himself "I mean like…speak as if they are this close to me, not…" he noticed the look on her face as he tried to explain and finally opted to stop speaking entirely. He turned his head away, embarrassment showing through the cracks of his demeanor by the red color appearing on his cheeks. "I'm not very good at explaining this…" he admitted. Kin could see he was struggling, so she tried to ease his mind by cracking a bit of a joke.

"Yeah, I could see how intimate conversation wouldn't be your expertise based the way you seem to keep it together so well in battle" she teased.

Shiro instantly felt himself smile and relax at that remark. Her comment definitely fit the situation they were in, considering this was the only time she'd really interacted with him outside of a battle so far. Jokes aside though, he realized just how difficult it must be for her to adjust suddenly to a tense situation in a new environment right off the bat. Yet she seemed to take it all in stride despite the difficulty. He found that admirable about her.

"By the way" Kin began, using a more serious tone, "I struggle with words too, in more ways than one. But… I hoped if it isn't a bother, I would love to get to know you both as a comrade and as a friend." She reached out then and softly held Shiro's robotic hand in hers as if trying to comfort him out of a kind of natural understanding they both shared. Even though the paladin still felt stiff having someone hold on to his robotic hand, it wasn't the usual visceral urge to pull his metal hand away. Shiro felt the uncommon sensation of warmth and support from her company.

"That sounds nice."

Just then the sound of the door sliding open behind them startled the pair and they quickly let go of each other's hands not wanting to send the wrong message to whoever entered. Shiro was the first to get up to see who it was.

Allura walked restlessly into the room. Taken back by her arrival, Shiro reacted genuinely confused.

"What are you doing here? You should be resting."

"I cannot sleep. Zarkon is out there. He's searching for us." She noticed Kin at the back of the room and instantly felt another wave of guilt. "Kin has only just joined us and already we've put her in so much danger."

Kin could see the look of regret and feeling of responsibility on the princess's face. Shiro acknowledged the danger Kin was in at the back of his mind but first he placed his hand calmly on Allura's as she used her hand to open a monitor in her station.

"I know how you feel," the man softly admitted "but you have to step away for a while. It's what's best for everyone."

Kin was about to walk over to comfort Allura as well but then another loud explosion shook the ship around them and when they looked up they noticed that Zarkan was upon them yet again.

Momentarily frozen, Allura gasped in disbelief.

"We are several galaxies away. How could they find us so soon?"

Shiro had already turned to attend to his station and Allura, snapping out of her initial shock, had reopened the monitors at her own station and put up the particle barrier. Meanwhile Kin fumbled over to her self-elected station barely grabbing on to the controls for her robot. Almost falling over in the processes, she asked loudly over the alarm,

"Is this common with you guys?!"

"Not usually like this!" Allura answered back before turning her attentions elsewhere. Allura quickly called Coran who was at the teladuv and asked about the status. Coran could be heard from the other side saying,

"Wormholing will be a problem. The lenses haven't been readjusted! I don't know if the teludav will generate enough power."

"Do everything you can!" Allura acknowledged.

Just then Lance and Keith ran into the room with only their swim trunks on. Lance skidded into the seat of his station and in a panic stammered,

"They found us again? How is that possible? Is that possible? That doesn't seem possible!" Hunk and Pidge then quickly got to their seats as well.

"Right now, we must figure out a way to get out of here." Allura responded trying to keep a level head.

"Or we can stay and fight." Keith boldly disagreed, "Now's our chance. Form Voltron. Enough running!"

Now sounding desperate, Allura insisted that Keith's option was too dangerous. Shiro agreed,

"Allura's right. We can't take on Zarkon and his entire fleet. Remember what happened at Zarkon's command center. We wouldn't have escaped if the Blade of Marmora hadn't shut down the shield."

Coran then appeared on the screen again with an update but was quickly cut short when he slipped falling hard onto the ground. "Uh, guys," he begrudgingly started "I think I'm realizing now that I do, in fact, have a case of the slipperies. I'm sorry I yelled at you, Pidge. I may need your help, after all."

Pidge quickly headed down to help Coran. Meanwhile Allura continued to pilot the ship while Shiro, Lance, Keith, and Kin worked to fight off the drones with their robot blasters.

The team's ship ended up being able to make the jump but exited the wormhole a lot sooner than expected. When they were finally out of the wormhole everyone sulked in their seats talking in the moment of their short peace. There was a shared silence for a while before Shiro broke it first.

"Zarkon keeps finding us" he said in frustration "It's like... he knows how to track us down. Maybe he planted some kind of tracking device."

Allura proceeded to check the systems but concluded that it wasn't anything on the ship. Taking that into account, Shiro cautioned Kin and the other paladins "Until we figure out exactly how he's doing it, we should assume that he could show up at any minute. So, stay alert."

Only the order was immediately followed by snoring. At least until the Hunk's own snoring woke himself up with a jolt reminding everyone just how tired they were.

Shiro checked back in with Coran and Pidge, and while they could no longer wormhole Pidge mentioned, "Hey, there's a giant metallic storm ahead of us. I think we can hide in the eye of the storm. It should give off enough interference so we can't be tracked."

"Pidge is right" Kin agreed "not even Olkari technology would be able to trace a signal through a storm. We'd be invisible to any radar, radio waves, universal scans, or any other known technology. "

"It's worth a shot" Shiro yielded.

Allura then flew the ship into the eye of the storm and confirmed the other's theory. But just as they thought they were one step ahead of Zarkan all of the sudden the alerts sounded again and Zarkan's ship was just above the storm they were hiding in. Both Kin and Pidge were baffled. As fighters began to make their descent towards them, Pidge chimed in on the radio again.

"Okay, I don't know how he found us, but it definitely wasn't with normal instruments." Kin agreed with Pidge's assessment. But after a moment of silence Allura admitted reluctantly to the rest of the team,

"It's me. It's been me all along. That's how they found us on planet Arus."

However, Kin questioned Allura's assessment since to her; this only seemed to be happening since she joined them on the ship. From the moment she came aboard with them, Zarkan had immediately found them not too long after. She wondered if maybe she was actually the real cause. Before she could ponder this any further however, Shiro quickly assured Allura,

"It doesn't matter, Princess. We're in this together. We're gonna get out together."

"Uh, how? We're trapped" Hunk interjected.

"We need to form Voltron and go through the storm."

"The storm?!" Lance blurted out "What are you, nuts?!"

"Yeah! What do you mean? Why would we do that?" Hunk added.

"It's risky, I know" Shiro responded with a touch of stress "but it's our only chance. We have to go through the storm, then lure Zarkon's ship away, giving Allura some time to get into open space."

"Then, what?" Allura asked.

"Then, we wormhole away. Coran, remember how you said getting this Castle to wormhole is impossible? Well, I need you to do the impossible" Shiro finished.

With a plan set in place the paladins got into their lions and quickly formed Voltron outside. As Voltron fought off the drones, Coran escorted Kin down to the teladuv in order to help him sort out the situation. As Voltron lured Zarkan away as planned, Allura was finally able to fly the ship out from the center of the storm and away. As the ship escaped, Kin listened to everything that was going on through the radio. All of the sudden she heard the paladins shouting from the radio as they wondered what was wrong with their lions. Shiro remained the only one who was silent and sounded as if he was struggling and then Keith yelled

"Zarkon's taking control of the Black Lion again! Fall back!"

At this point Kin began to worry but she continued to help Coran knowing that there was nothing she could do. Shiro's frustration was clear; he was trying hard to remain in control. Kin's hands tightened into fists, their lives we at stake and she could do nothing. Then Allura shot at Zarkan's ship, just enough to distract it. With Zarkan's concentration momentarily thrown off, the paladin's not hesitating took that chance and Voltron escaped from Zarkan's grip over the black lion. Shiro's voice returned over the radio noticeably more ragged.

"I forgot how intense Zarkon's connection to the Black Lion is. We have to keep our distance, or risk losing Voltron. Let's disband and get back to the Castle."

When the paladin's returned to the Castle, Coran explained that the ship couldn't wormhole because the scaultrite lens-stones were still broken. Kin could be seen over the monitor trying to fix the scaultrite lenses in the background with her powers but to no avail. She couldn't picture the proper molecular formula for scaultrite in her head since she had never come across it previously. That's when Pidge realized she remembered seeing elements of scaultrite within the cookies Hunk was making earlier. After scanning the cookies her theory was confirmed and Coran said they could work for at least one jump, the catch being that they would have to be physically held by people in the teladuv.

The paladins went down to where Kin and Coran were located at the teladuv and Coran set each paladin up inside in perfectly aligned positions. Everyone was extremely nervous. Even Kin began calculating the chances of success in her head before she decided to stop, not wanting to know the answer. Hunk suddenly decided to ask

"Wait, Coran! How dangerous is this?"

There was a dramatic pause then Coran began,

"Honestly, this is the most dangerous thing I've ever seen, or heard of, but since we're probably going to die anyway, what the heck, let's give it a shot! Good luck, gentlemen and gentlelady. It's been a pleasure. And don't touch the lasers!"

When the door closed and the teladuv began to start up, Kin could hear Lance from the inside yelling "We're gonna die! We're gonna die! We're gonna die!" frantically. But halfway through the start-up, the teladuv turned off again.

Exasperated, Coran yelled "It's not working!"

Kin laughed anxiously beside Coran with sweat beginning to form on her brow. Despite that however, she placed a hand on the man's shoulder in an attempt to comfort him anyway. Seeing the man try so hard only for it to fail instantly made her feel for him. Meanwhile, the cause of the malfunction was discovered. Coran found that the stones weren't reflecting properly. As he took that moment to wipe his own sweat, he looked down at his arm. Both of them slowly coming to the same realization, Kin and Coran looked at each other with widening eyes and Coran turned on his heel and shouted to Allura "Hit the wormhole in ten ticks!"

As Allura began to count down Coran began using his case of the slipperies to shine up all the discs with his sweat. Kin watched, but as Allura got closer and closer to zero she felt herself wanting to cover her eyes. At the last moment the teladuv started with a flash and the castle barely made it through the wormhole.

Afterwards, when Allura made her way down to check on the paladins, all of them were fried. Not too badly, but enough that each of them were coated in a layer of dust.

Kin placed a hand on Allura's tense shoulder. "It's okay Allura, I'll tell them you said good job. You clean up Coran and I help out the other Paladins."

"Thanks Kin" Allura said to her with a loving smile as she helped Coran out "It really is so nice to have you around here."

When Allura and Coran left, Kin rolled up her sleeves. "Okay everyone you did it! I'll help you out if you need it."

She first offered her hand to Hunk who was still laying on the floor and he grabbed hers back helping to lift himself off the ground.

"Thank goodness for your cookies Hunk!" she warmly smiled at him. "Who knows where we would have been without them!

"Thanks Kin" Hunk smiled bashfully at her compliment as he began to walk out of the teladuv, "I'm just glad my cookies were helpful."

"I'll have to try some of your other cookies one of these days!" Kin encouraged.

"That would be cool! I'll go check out our ingredients now!"

As Hunk ran out Keith almost made her jump as he appeared at her side all of the sudden without her noticing.

"I think I'll just take a quick shower" he said tiredly while making his way out.

"Same here" Pidge added but stopped when she was just about to pass Kin. "Great work today though. It feels so nice to have another person so knowledgeable with tech around here." In response to the compliment, the woman leaned down and gave the short girl a hug and ruffled Pidge's hair softly which got a small giggle out of the girl before she headed out.

Lance was next as he dragged his feet while making his way past Kin. "I think I'm going to take a nap" he muttered tiredly.

"Way to hang in there Lance" she encouraged him while simultaneously trying to hide her surprise at how he didn't even attempt to flirt with her. She thought he must have been really exhausted since it was so uncharacteristic of him.

Meanwhile, Shiro was the last to finally step out of the teladuv. He walked over toward Kin and placed a firm hand on her shoulder. "Great work out there today. I know how difficult this must be since you just got here but I really appreciate it. And I know everyone else is glad for your help too."

Kin's cheeks turned pink. She wasn't used to being praised by others let alone being part of a team. Feeling like she actually belonged somewhere was new and unfamiliar. She wanted to say something in return but Shiro had already turned to walk away until her robotic voice stammered out, "You too!" Shiro stopped and looked back at her. "I think you were pretty cool too" she finished.

The man gifted her with a rare genuine smile in return. Distracted by its charm she almost forgot to ask him something she had been meaning ask for a while. She shook her head; quickly reminding herself to snap out of it. She then asked, "Oh uh Shiro, um… could you… help me find my way around the castle?" She scratched the back of her head embarrassed. "I still have barely any idea where I'm going around here."

"No problem" he said in with a hint of amusement in his usual soft yet affirmative tone "Follow me."

The woman's nervousness faded a bit when she saw his calm willingness to help her. With a bit of confidence in her step, she skipped over beside him before settling into a walk at his pace. Side by side the two began their way down the hall of the castle together.


End file.
